New leader in Seoul.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The relationship between the United States and South Korea has been a little sticky lately. But last week's election of former labor lawyer Roh Moo-hyun as South Korea's new president offers the opportunity for a fresh start between the two allies. Roh and President Bush should reach out to each other as soon as practical to ease the anti-American sentiment that dominated much of the election campaign.

In his campaign Roh presented himself as being more critical of the United States than his more conservative opponent, Lee Hoi-chang, and narrowly won the presidency with less than a majority vote - 48.9 percent to Lee's 46.6 percent. Roh (his name is pronounced "No") will take office Feb. 25 from his champion in the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, outgoing President Kim Dae-jung.

Roh has said he wants to resolve the unnerving issue of North Korea's nuclear program in a peaceful manner, while also speaking of the need to "strengthen the Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance." Roh has offered to meet with Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

Roh's position of engagement with North Korea presents a challenge to the Bush administration, which has taken a hard-line attitude toward the North. Roh pledges that South Korea will continue giving financial aid and making economic investments in the North, while the White House demands that the North first end its nuclear program before it will resume serious engagement.

The United States has a powerful incentive to work with South Korea and Japan to find a peaceful resolution to the U.S.-North Korea stalemate. Although the Bush administration is preoccupied - some would say obsessed - with Iraq, it is vitally important that the administration work closely with Roh's government to address all issues of mutual interest on the Korean peninsula. And those interests should include discussions about the 37,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in South Korea and the massive anti-American demonstrations that followed the recent court martial acquittal of two U.S. soldiers in the accidental deaths of two South Korean girls.

But the overriding needs now are continued U.S.-South Korean friendship and efforts by both countries to somehow find common ground on North Korea so as to ease the tensions and dangers on the Korean peninsula.